"To the woman he said, "I will greatly increase your pangs in childbearing. in pain you shall bring forth children, yet your desire shall be for your husband, and he shall rule over you." Genesis 8:16 "When a woman is in labor, she has pain, because her hour has come. But when her child is born, she no longer remembers the anguish because of the joy of having brought a human being into the world." John 16:21. "A great portent appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars. She was pregnant and crying out in birth pangs, in the agony of giving birth." 12:1-2. I give you these Bible verses not to scare you, but to help you with your child labor pain. Eve's childbirth pain was increased after she committed the original sin, which was to partake of the fruit of knowledge of good and evil, which was what God told her not to do. And so, Eve had horrible labor pain. But imagine how relieved Eve was after it was over. Also in the book of Revelation, we see that there is a return to Eden. We have all sinned, like Eve. Therefore we all take the punishment of pain. But because there was a Savior, our pain comes to an end when the labor is finished. Like Eve, we are all satisfied when it's over, and we have a little person to love afterwards. Do you realize there are approximately 7.7 billion people on the planet today? That's a lot of labor pains. But the hope is that every last baby will be delivered in more ways than one. Not only will they be delivered by their moms, but also by God, because there was a reason and a purpose for pain, and that is what you get when it's over.

I sometimes feel like it's my calling to find stuff to do. With a 4-year-old in the house, we're always looking of ways to fill up our time with activities. When I was a child, I got bored sometimes, and I asked my mother what I should do next. And she always had an answer. But I decided I wanted to grow up to be a parent and find stuff to do for my kids. It's not really that easy, in fact. Kids are so active that they always want to be playing, but their little attentions wander. She does have toys. She plays with them sometimes, but then they become uninteresting. Without always buying her new things, I make toys from scratch, like homemade play-dough. I give her hand-me-downs. There are always ways to save money to pay the bills. An interesting activity is to walk 1/2 mile up to the drugstore, even if it only two grocery items. We get exercise and ran an errand, too. Finding stuff to do comes from the things God has given me, including things I have learned about childcare from other people. I came up with my own expression: "When in doubt, draw it out." And that means when there is nothing to do, the saving grace is taking a piece of paper and a pencil and drawing. It's not much, but boredom can cause depression, and I know this from experience. Too much entertainment, on the other hand, can be both addictive and exhausting. Some day I might teach her why I taught her to draw to fight boredom, in the first place. I would say, "What is drawing?" Making pictures. "Why do we make pictures?" To imagine. "Why is imagining important?" And then she wouldn't know what to say, but I'd say, "To figure stuff out. You see, when we use our imaginations, like with drawing, we create art, which is a depiction of life. Depictions are not copies of what we see, but is an image of what we see, making a statement about it. Art is a description. Say I draw a picture of a tree. It is not supposed to simply be a tree. It needs to have meaning. Art is a way to communicate. The Egyptians used to use hieroglyphics to write, which were pictures that told a story. Art is a voice. Art has life of its own. God did that when he created us. He sculpted us out of clay, and then he used his breath to breathe life into us. God looks at us, his magnificent creations, as beautiful. He stands back and admires his work. He says to himself, I have created more masterpieces. And he loves us. When you draw, you stand back and you admire your picture. You are creating like God did. God is not quite finished with the entirety of creation yet, but once he is, he will stand back and admire everything he made, and rest. I taught you to draw when you were little because I wanted you to look through God's eyes and understand how and why he made you."

Faith

A Poem

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With faith I can begin to see

The beauty of my life to be.

With God I can receive a song,

A song of hope that carries calm.

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My future lies in God alone.

I come before the ancient throne.

He tells me faith will come to be

A song of joy that strengthens me.

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My tears are healed because of God,

Along His path I vow to trod.

He comforts me when I am weak,

Gives me rest and starts to speak.

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&ldquo.My Christian, dear, I love to hold

&ldquo.Your hands in mine and it is gold

&ldquo.To laugh and dance as happy friends,

Because my love has always been.&rdquo.

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I love You, my Lord God.

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You are my Lord, my Love

For all my strength comes from above

I love You Lord, because You died,

To love us with more power than the ocean tide.

You are my Lord, my God of Light and Glory,

I'd like to tell You all of my life story.

To share with You all of the little things,

Because prayer with You hope it brings.

You are my rock and my eternal salvation,

for through Your death we live forever in elation.

You are the Greatest Love to me,

Because the King You will forever be.